Call For Entries Announced for SELECTS, Westport Arts Center’s Summer Member Exhibition

The Westport Arts Center has announced that Charlotte Strick, Art Editor of The Paris Review literary magazine and Claire Williams Martinez, former Chapter President of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Design) Chicago, have been named as the jurors for SELECTS, the eleventh annual summer member artist exhibition.

The jurors are also the co-founders and principals of the Brooklyn, NY-based multidisciplinary design firm, Strick&Williams, where they collaborate with cultural institutions and clients in the arts, education, publishing and non-profits.

The exhibition will be on view from July 14 through September 1, 2017. Submissions are due by June 27, 2017.

The jurors stated, “It’s our great honor to serve as the jurors for SELECTS. As in past years, the 2017 show will surely boast the great talents and artistry of the Westport Arts Center’s impressive membership. In reviewing submissions, we’ll be looking for work in a range of media where the execution is well-considered. We welcome traditional subject matter, but we are particularly interested in the expression of ideas—both representational and abstract. We look forward to seeing what themes may emerge.”

Amanda Innes, the Westport Arts Center’s Executive Director, stated, “We are thrilled to have such accomplished jurors continue in the tradition of the last ten years. Our summer member exhibition is always special to us, as it showcases the very best of the region.”

The member exhibitions are one way in which the Arts Center celebrates the artistic talent and diversity of its artist members. Now in its eleventh year, the summer member exhibition is designed to discover and showcase new works of art by talented artists in the region, and also helps new artists discover the Westport Arts Center.

The summer member exhibition has historically featured esteemed jurors including Douglas Hyland, Former Director of the New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA) in New Britain, CT (SOLOS 2016), Richard Klein, Exhibitions Director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT, and Patricia Hickson, the Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT.

Last year, the summer member exhibition (SOLOS 2016) generated a highly competitive pool of talent from across the nation, and only a select few were juried in to participate.

SELECTS will feature up to ten artists. You must be a member, or become a member, to be eligible for submission. The entry fee is $40/artist and $25 for young artists (ages 25 and under). Full submission guidelines are available on westportartscenter.org.

The Arts Center will notify all artists on June 30, 2017. For any questions on eligibility, submission guidelines or the upcoming exhibition, please contact the Westport Arts Center at 203.222-7070 or visit westportartscenter.org.

About The Jurors

Charlotte Strick is a principal at the multidisciplinary graphic design firm, Strick&Williams, founded with her longtime friend and colleague, Claire Williams Martinez, in 2014. The studio collaborates with cultural institutions and clients in the arts, publishing, education, non-profits and everything in-between. For fourteen years prior, Strick was a designer turned art director at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she designed book covers for much-loved authors like Jonathan Franzen, Roberto Bolaño, and Lydia Davis. Her work has been featured in the AIGA 50 Books / 50 Covers show, the TDC Annual Exhibition, Print magazine, and in many books about cover design. The proud owner of a coveted Silver Cube from The Art Directors Club, Charlotte is also Art Editor of the distinguished literary magazine, The Paris Review. Her writings on art and design have been published by The Paris Review, The Atlantic and The Huffington Post. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Charlotte lives with her husband and their twin boys in Brooklyn, New York.

Claire Williams Martinez was raised by parents who worked for the United Nations, so her humanitarian interests were formed early in life. As a graphic designer she loves to work with clients who have community, art, and education at heart, and she pursues work with this focus. Claire’s career began with five years in New York book publishing, where she designed covers for the trade paperback imprint Vintage Books. Love and marriage then took her to Chicago, where she spent her first three years working with the talented teams at VSA Partners, building corporate communications campaigns. This indispensable experience was followed by a joyful five years designing for museums and cultural institutions at Studio Blue. In the last two years, before returning to New York, Claire was honored to serve AIGA Chicago as Chapter President. In 2014 Claire founded the design studio Strick&Williams with her colleague and art school friend, Charlotte Strick, where the quest for culturally meaningful work endures.

About the Westport Arts Center

The Westport Arts Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting community through the arts, reaches more than 11,000 people annually through outstanding programs in visual arts, arts education, and the performance arts of Chamber music and jazz.